The invention relates to a trailer coupling, in particular for automobiles, comprising a ball neck, a cross member, which is provided with a holding unit for the ball neck, and also two spaced attachment parts, which engage on the cross member and connect the cross member to mounting elements, which are themselves mountable on a rear part of a motor vehicle body.
Such trailer couplings are known from the prior art. Both pull/thrust forces, which lead to an elastic deflection of the cross member, and transverse forces, which act in the longitudinal direction of the cross member and are transferred from the cross member to the attachment parts and from the attachment parts to the mounting elements, act on the ball neck in these trailer couplings.
However, the motor vehicle body should be subjected on the lowest possible scale to bending moments generated, for example, by the deflection of the cross member and/or to transverse forces acting parallel to the longitudinal direction of the cross member, since otherwise damage ensues at the rear part of the motor vehicle body.
Therefore, the object forming the basis of the invention is to connect the cross member to the motor vehicle body in such a manner that undesirable moments and/or forces are transferred to the motor vehicle body on the lowest possible scale.